SANTA CRUZ — One Santa Cruz resident’s recent history with police: 43 arrests and 21 citations in 2018 for a range of offenses including trespassing, resisting arrest, drug charges and public intoxication.

That person — who was not identified by name — is one of 20 individuals targeted so far by Santa Cruz County’s new Focused Intervention Team, according to Santa Cruz County Sheriff Jim Hart.

Launched Jan. 28, the pilot program is pairing Sheriff’s deputies with mental health workers to take a hands-on approach to working with the relatively small number of people who cycle in and out of county jail while resisting treatment efforts, draining resources and posing a risk to public safety.

“This team of clinicians and law enforcement is going to focus on those people involved with criminal behavior and act in a way that scares people,” Hart said in a news release. “Our community and our visitors deserve better. Law abiding community members must be allowed to visit local businesses and open spaces without being fearful of the actions of a small number of people who refuse treatment and help.”

The seven-member team is made up of three deputies, three county mental health workers and an administrative aide. The team is tasked with closely monitoring the chronic offenders both in and out of jail and ensuring they are connected with a range of psychiatric, substance abuse and other services — whether they want them or not.

To end up on the team’s “client list,” a person must be under a fresh arrest, have had three contacts with law enforcement in the past three months, show aggressive behavior and be resistant to treatment for underlying addiction or mental health disorders.

To make their way out of the program, its clients must go 60 days without a new criminal charge or probation violation and show willful participation in treatment and ongoing care programs.

Once a treatment plan is developed and a client is released from county jail, the team is tasked with making frequent followup visits to monitor compliance. The chronic offenders are also being connected with existing medical, food and housing programs and nonprofit partners.

Sixty people have been referred to the program so far, 20 of whom had been accepted as of Tuesday. Each of the 20 individuals are homeless and have a substance-use disorder, according to Hart.

At present, the program has capacity to serve 30 people.

For many of the repeat offenders in question, drugs and alcohol are a primary factor for their behavior, according to Hart. Many, he said, have been offered or ordered into treatment in the past, but have refused those services.

“There’s been very little accountability for them in the past when they do that and their behaviors continue out on the street,” Hart said, addressing county supervisors Tuesday. “And so, by using the jail as a resource, we’re hoping that through our three clinicians and our involved staff we can convince the people to receive treatment.”

Because most — if not all — of the targeted population is homeless, some officials worry housing could prove a sticking point.

Housing is “beyond the scope of what this program can do but it seems to play a critical role in whether we’ll be successful with this effort,” said 1st District Supervisor John Leopold on Tuesday.

“It’s going to be very hard for folks to maintain their sobriety in the community if they’re still living on the street, absolutely,” said Erik Riera, the county’s behavioral health director, in response.

The launch of the Focused Intervention Team was lauded by the Santa Cruz and Watsonville police chiefs, the Downtown Association and Santa Cruz Mayor Martine Watkins.

“The City of Santa Cruz shoulders much of the burden and impacts associated with frequent offenders and I am pleased to see a program developed that will address this difficult to treat population,” Watkins wrote in a letter of support.

The Focused Intervention Team is projected to cost the county about $1 million annually. It is funded by Measure G, a half-cent sales tax increase approved by county voters in November.

Watsonville-based firm Applied Survey Research has been hired to track program metrics and outcomes. The primary metric of success, according to a staff report, will be a reduction in criminal activity among those targeted.

Nicholas Ibarra covers government, education, cannabis and agriculture for the Sentinel. Raised in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Nicholas has earned multiple statewide awards for his writing, which has appeared throughout numerous Bay Area newspapers including the Mercury News and East Bay Times. He has also contributed reporting to publications including KQED Radio, Scientific American and Sierra Magazine. Nicholas earned a B.S. in journalism from San Jose State University.